The Key to a Compelling Protagonist

your protagonist is the hero of your story and if the reader is intrigued by them then that is likely to help carry them through the entirety of your book but if your reader doesn't feel like your protagonist is compelling it's going to be much harder for them to feel invested in continuing with the story all the way to the end you have to consider if your protagonist is someone that the reader really wants to hang out with for hundreds of pages but knowing if your protagonist is effective or not can be so difficult for you as the author to see in working as a professional developmental book editor I've edited hundreds of manuscripts across my career and I've discovered the key to making a compelling protagonist which I'm going to share with you today with this knowledge you can turn back to your own work in progress and make sure that your protagonist is as engaging as possible someone that the reader is excited to follow for the duration of your story if you're a writer and you're new new to my channel welcome every week I either give tactical writing tips like this one or I talk about the book publishing industry so if any of that interests you please join this amazing Community by hitting the Subscribe button and before we dive into the tips today it would mean a lot to me if you hit that thumbs up button it really helps out my channel thank you so much so what is this key to creating a compelling engaging exciting protagonist that readers want to invest in drum roll please if it's a strong objective now what is a character objective actually you may have heard this term thrown around but aren't actually sure what it means put simply the character's objective is the thing they are seeking to achieve some goal that they have at the present moment when your story is taking place and they are actively working towards it now we need to have a sense of the characters objective from the very beginning of the story otherwise if they're just aimlessly moving about your novel's world and we don't have a sense of what they want then it's going to be pretty difficult for the reader to feel invested in that character everyone wants something right it's human nature so really try to drill down what does my protagonist want Above All Else once you establish that it's going to be much easier for the reader to feel invested in the plot because we're going to understand how each event or development I either brings that character closer to that goal or pushes them further from it knowing what they want what desired outcome they have for their life is also just going to make them much more welldeveloped as a character they're not just this empty shell or robot type figure they're a opinionated thinking feeling human being which is what you typically want your protagonist to feel like you'd be surprised how many times I'll read a manuscript all the way through to the end and to still not really have a firm handle on what the protagonist actually wants if the protagonist doesn't have a clear established objective then it's going to feel to the reader like they lack agency in the story we're only going to see them responding to plot events that befall them rather than actively work towards something that personally they want we want to see that personal motivation factor in to the events of the story now it's very often the case that you as the author as the Visionary for the story as the creator of these characters including your protagonist know exactly what they want and it's very clear to you but often it's not actually coming through on the page as clearly as it could so have your protagonist just explicitly articulate that objective you'd be surprised how much work that simple line or two in your manuscript is going to do that simple revision is going to light a light bulb in the reader mind because now we have a much better understanding of the character's intentions behind their actions so now I want to talk through three tactical steps to take to incorporate your protagonist's objective into the story effectively but before I do that I want to let you know about a free resource I created specifically for my YouTube Community the link is in the description below to download my free story self assessment worksheet and if you're having trouble with your current draft it's a great little quiz to help you figure out maybe where you can improve on the next draft I know that can be so hard to see for yourself so it might help you get unstuck on the next revision downloading that's going to sign you up for my exclusive newsletter where I give publishing industry insights from Professionals in the industry as well as successfully published authors so I don't want you to miss out on all of their amazing tips if you want to go straight to the newsletter the link is also in the description my first tip for incorporating your protagonist objective is to recognize the difference between a weak and a strong objective you want to make sure when you are articulating your protagonist's objective that it is as tangible and concrete and specific as possible it should be something that by the end of the story we can definitively say yes they achieved that or no they did not it shouldn't really be something so vague or nebulous that we have no means of tracking over the course of the story because then that's really not helping your plot feel propulsive this concept is really best Illustrated through examples so let's go through three examples of weak objectives a prompting question and then use a prompting question that can help you take that weak objective and transform it into something strong and concrete and tangible and specific so the first example of a weak objective would be that my protagonist wants to feel happy in life in this case you want to ask ask yourself what will make my protagonist happy in life so a better objective would be something like my protagonist wants to move to Hawaii now both of those statements the strong and the weak objectives are expressing something that the character wants which is important for us to know right but one is a very specific tangible objective move to Hawaii by the end of the novel we will know whether they did or not probably right the next example of a weak objective would be my protagonist want wants to feel validated in this case ask yourself who are they seeking this validation from using that a stronger objective could be something like my protagonist wants a promotion at work again that is something that we can easily see them work toward over the course of the story and see if that pans out for them or not the final example of a weak objective would be something like my protagonist wants to feel like they belong in this case ask yourself what will give them a sense of belonging and then a stronger objective could be something like my protagonist wants to locate their birth parents do you see how both statements are interrelated but one is these specific means of achieving this broader feeling that the protagonist is seeking to often I see authors articulate the objective as just that broad overarching feeling but a feeling or desire is not necessarily the objective itself so really try to drill down down that bigger picture thing that the character is seeking into a step they can take that they want to take to achieve it my next tip is to make sure that the protagonist's objective is threaded through the entire narrative as the story develops and it gets more complex and more things are going on make sure that the protagonist is continually thinking back to that objective it is registering if they're getting closer to it or further from it remember that if the prot pist expresses at some point early in the story that they have this objective the reader is going to automatically expect some followup on it so don't just abandon that objective and never talk about it again if the protagonist says I want to move to Hawaii we should see them follow up on that in some way or another and if you've plotted your novel effectively we should see a series of obstacles get in the way of the protagonist reaching that objective does their boyfriend or girlfriend friend Express that they don't want them to move to Hawaii does their work say that they can't work from Hawaii and we have to get a new job put those obstacles in place then by the end of the novel remember that we will expect to see some kind of closure regarding whether that objective was met or not that's going to give us a sense of payoff that we waited all this time to see whether or not the Journey of the protagonist was going to pan out we want to know how that ends up for them and also how what makes them feel if their objective was met or not remember that your story doesn't have to have the standard structure of the protagonist overcoming an obstacle in achieving their goal now many many successful stories do follow that structure but there are many Alternatives you can take if that doesn't make sense for your story for example your protagonist could achieve their goal only to realize that it actually wasn't what they wanted all along and that it didn't give them the feeling they thought it would perhaps they do move to Hawaii but they realize that home is not actually in Paradise but where their loved ones are or alternatively your protagonist could just not achieve their objective and realize that maybe they're actually better off because of it or you could have them not achieve their objective and actually be in a worse place because of it if you have more of a unhappy ending regardless do you see how all of these objectives provide closure on the protagonist's objective one way or another my final tip is to make sure you clarify when your protagonist's objectives shifts in many stories the protagonist's desires goals change because of the events that happened to them in the story after all in your plot their circumstances are likely going to change drastically so in the case that new circumstances cause them to shift their objective just make sure the reader is always oriented to the new objective so perhaps initially their desire is to receive a promotion at work but then something terrible happens to them with a coworker in the office and they realize that actually they just want to get a new job entirely that's totally fine so long as the reader is always aware of what they are working toward the bottom line here is that the reader needs to know what your protagonist wants to feel connected to them otherwise we won't be able to register what all of their actions are adding up to or where they're coming from in making the decisions that we see them make in the story remember that they're actions should have an intent behind them whether that's the initial goal they set at the very beginning of the novel or it's a new goal that emerged for them over the course of the story I hope this video helped you better understand the importance of character objectives and how it really can transform your protagonist into a much more compelling figure let me know in the comments what your protagonist's objective is it really can be so so helpful just to write it out articulate it for yourself and then you'll see how you can bring that more to light in the story if you're looking for some more tips on character objectives and how they fit into your plotting check out my video called the easiest way to Plot a novel I talk about how objectives work with obstacles and work with Stakes to create an effective story before you head out if you enjoyed this video please hit that thumbs up button to help out my channel hit that subscribe button if you haven't already and don't forget your free story self assessment worksheet and my newsletter Link in the description below thanks so much for watching and happy [Music] [Music] rating

Channel: Alyssa Matesic

Views: 8,038

Keywords: authortube, How to Write a Novel, How to Write a Book, write a book, writing characters, writing tips, writing tips for beginners, fiction writing, creative writing, writing advice, how to write a book, how to write a novel, nanowrimo, writing complex characters, how to write complex characters, how to write strong characters, chacterization, how to develop characters, main character, characterization, strong characters, character tips, characterization tips, novel writing

Id: G59iclZRCCU

Length: 12min 11sec (731 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 03 2023